CRTV - PRESS HOUR - (CORONAVIRUS : What IS WORKING and What IS NOT ?) - Sunday 26th April 2020

Summary

In this episode of CRTV's Press Hour, host Lamuka and the expert panel address the effectiveness of measures against COVID-19 in Cameroon. Despite limited resources, the response has been unexpectedly positive. The show covers topics from the utilization of local medicinal plants to government health directives. This engaging discussion highlights both the successes and challenges in managing the pandemic, with an emphasis on nutrition and avoiding complacency.

Highlights

• Cameroon's COVID-19 response has been surprisingly effective, with measures ably controlling case numbers. 🌍
• The show's expert guests emphasize how traditional African medicines can complement conventional treatments. 🌱
• Despite grim projections, Africa's youthful demographics offer a silver lining in the pandemic. 🌟
• The role of diverse, local foods in supporting health and immunity is underscored by experts. 🍇
• Engaging discussions highlight the need for continuing preventive measures and health campaigns. 📣
• Stay vigilant against misinformation while adapting to new health guidelines, said experts. 🔍

Key Takeaways

• COVID-19 measures in Cameroon are remarkably effective, keeping cases lower than expected. 🎉
• Traditional medicine is gaining attention as a viable supplement to modern treatments. 🌿
• Cameroon's young population may contribute to lower severity and mortality rates. 🧒
• Nutrition plays a crucial role in boosting immunity – embrace a colorful diet! 🍎
• The importance of exercise and mental health during lockdown can't be overstated. 💪
• Community transmission remains a concern; vigilance is key to continued control. 👀

Overview

In a poignant episode of CRTV's Press Hour, the host welcomes experts and highlights the global yet unique African impact of COVID-19. As countries grapple with the pandemic, Cameroon's measures against the virus are showing surprising results. This episode delves deep into what methods are working, and the challenges faced ahead.

A diverse set of guests, from biochemists to health officials, unravel the story behind the numbers. How has Africa, often portrayed as vulnerable, managed to defy grim predictions, especially with limited resources? The importance of traditional medicine is also spotlighted, bringing a unique twist to the fight against COVID-19.

Highlighting the significance of respecting government guidelines, the episode also underscores the vital role of nutrition and local food resources. It's clear that food security, along with healthcare measures, forms the backbone of the ongoing battle. The conversation enlightens with evidence-based insights, with a recurring emphasis on not becoming complacent.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Intro & Program Overview The introduction of the program starts with music in the background.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Introduction to Topic - COVID-19 Discussion The chapter opens with a brief introduction, highlighting the eagerness and importance of the upcoming discussion. Initially planned to focus on politics, the program shifts to address the pressing issue of COVID-19 due to its significance. The hosts have invited carefully selected guests to discuss what is effective and what isn't in the response to the pandemic. The chapter sets the stage for a thorough analysis of the current COVID-19 situation.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Global COVID-19 Statistics The chapter titled 'Global COVID-19 Statistics' provides an overview of the global situation related to COVID-19. It mentions the serious nature of the pandemic, highlighting significant figures including the total number of cases worldwide, which stands at approximately 2,861,597. Additionally, the chapter reports 202,727 deaths globally, with 802,000 recoveries. The discussion touches upon how governments are engaged in fighting the pandemic and whether certain foods might help combat COVID-19.
• 02:30 - 06:00: Focus on COVID-19 in Cameroon The chapter discusses the COVID-19 situation in Cameroon, noting significant recovery numbers and comparing the impact with other countries. The U.S. is highlighted as the hardest-hit country with approximately 53,934 deaths. Spain is mentioned as another severely affected country in Europe, with confirmed cases and death tolls rising. The chapter emphasizes the global spread and severity of the pandemic, touching on recovery statistics as well as the daunting number of deaths in the hardest-hit countries.
• 06:00 - 12:00: Discussion: Measures and Observations The chapter 'Discussion: Measures and Observations' features a conversation centered on COVID-19, with a focus on nutritional biochemistry. Professor Julius Oben, a nutrition biochemist, is a guest on the program. The discussion highlights the rarity of having Professor Oben, typically working in a lab setting, join the program to offer his expertise.
• 12:00 - 16:00: The Role of Traditional Medicine The chapter discusses the importance and impact of traditional medicine in contemporary society. It features insights from Dr. Eric Taddy from the Ministry of Public Health, who is a frequent contributor on media platforms such as CRTV, and shares his perspectives on the integration of traditional practices in modern healthcare. Editorial insights from Terry Lambie provide additional context, while an epidemiologist contributes expertise on the subject. The presence of these professionals underscores the significance of traditional medicine in public health discourse.
• 16:00 - 20:00: Nutritional Guidance During the Pandemic This chapter introduces Dr. Asa Felix, who has been invited to discuss the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is now globally recognized as a pandemic. The chapter hints at analyzing recent findings released by the presidency, which have been the focus of media attention. Specific details or nutritional guidance mentioned in the discussion are not captured in this brief segment.
• 20:00 - 25:00: Community Reactions and Responses The chapter titled 'Community Reactions and Responses' focuses on discussions around health, particularly in the context of political discourse. It emphasizes the importance of prioritizing health over politics, noting that without good health, political discussions become irrelevant.
• 25:00 - 27:00: Conclusion and Closing Remarks The chapter titled 'Conclusion and Closing Remarks' highlights recent news articles about significant donations and initiatives aimed at combating COVID-19 in Cameroon. The media reports focus on substantial contributions, including 3 billion CFA worth of kits provided by various entities and a personal support offer from BR amounting to 2 billion CFA to assist nationwide efforts. The publications underscore local and global recognition of Cameroonian efforts in controlling the pandemic, with emphasis on CSBI's leadership in inspiring world leaders. The chapter closes by acknowledging the ongoing battle against coronavirus, capturing a sense of community and global solidarity in these efforts.
• 27:00 - 28:00: Closing & End Credits The chapter discusses the various efforts and measures undertaken in Cameroon to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the development of a ventilator prototype by Cameroonian engineers as a positive step against the virus. The parliament expresses support for measures to fight COVID-19, including a proposed financial package of a hundred million safer francs. Additionally, there is a debate on a proposal to reduce the salaries of ministers, general managers, and members of parliament as part of the efforts to manage the pandemic's impact. The chapter also touches on media coverage, with the Cameroon Tribune and the Guardian Post discussing these initiatives and the broader effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CRTV - PRESS HOUR - (CORONAVIRUS : What IS WORKING and What IS NOT ?) - Sunday 26th April 2020 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] so
• 00:30 - 01:00 good day we're starting a few seconds before our starting time but we will catch up we will have a little bit more than 30 seconds on the program this midday but that tells you how eager we are to come to you we've carefully selected guests to be able to handle the issues for you this day we thought we would do politics but because of the gravity of kovit 19 we've decided to come back on it and today we'll be talking about um what is working and what is not
• 01:00 - 01:30 and whether foods help foods in plural herb or in the uh fight against the coverage which we the government is engaged in and for your information um the situation is still very serious in the world we have about 2 million 861 597 cases in the world that's worldwide with 200 and two thousand seven hundred and twenty seven deaths with only eight hundred and two thousand
• 01:30 - 02:00 seven hundred and seventy four recovered the us remains the hardest hit country with about fifty three thousand 934 debts but um spain remains uh one of the most uh affected countries with uh uh on the european continent with 22 000 to 223 757 59 dead cases confirmed with 22 uh
• 02:00 - 02:30 902 debts and this midday we've decided to focus again on uh kovic 19 like i said earlier with um a nutritional biochemist biochemist with us on the program that's midday professor julius oben you're welcome thank you and it's a rare um situation to get you out of your laboratory and we are grateful that you
• 02:30 - 03:00 decided to join us on the program this midday our usual friend from the ministry of public health dr eric taddy you're welcome thank you john and want to appreciate your availability on crt in particular because almost on daily basis you are on crtv a-waves thank you we have our editorialist terry lambie with us on the program this midday you're welcome it's a pleasure and we have an epidemiologist he was here earlier on when thus we started this uh
• 03:00 - 03:30 discussion on kovic 19 today we wanted to we have invited him to talk about where we are with this epidemic which has become a pandemic like he did explain last time dr asa uh felix your welcome thank you joe okay like you know uh uh during the week the presidency published uh the results of the garbu findings and uh the papers have been feeding fat on it but like i
• 03:30 - 04:00 explained earlier on we've not will not talk about politics today we'll talk about health because the hell if you are not healthy you will not be able to talk about politics so our health first but what if the paper has been feeding on a manuela venue the fight against kovite 19 in cameroon continued to occupy the lion's share of newspaper collins with paul beer equipping the 360
• 04:00 - 04:30 subdivisions with kits worth close to 3 billion front cfa on cameroon tribune to the guardian post br offers 2 billion cfa personal support to save lives nationwide the chronicle times writes bia offers over 2 billion preventive kits nationwide municipal updates csbi inspiring world leaders in containing kovite 19 at a time the battle against coronavirus deepens on the post newspaper with donations of
• 04:30 - 05:00 anti-covet 19 kids here and there then cameroon engineers develop ventilator prototype to fight coronavirus on the horizon parliament then wears in to support measures with a hundred million safer friends on cameroon tribune as a lawmaker proposes slash in salaries of ministers gm's mps to contain kovite 19 on the guardian post but the interest of the post weekender is on what it writes kovid 19 pandemic
• 05:00 - 05:30 sends government in search of cemetery space just when over a thousand inmates are liberated from prisons across cameroon on the lone bilingual daily cameroon tribune then br cancels label national day celebrations on the post weekender to municipal updates labor day may 20 celebrations cancelled to contain coronavirus just in time for the afdb to say that cameroon to suffer least shock in cemark on the guardian post before private media owners cry out to
• 05:30 - 06:00 be of a rescue as covid19 cripples economy on the lone english daily just when drinking alcohol may increase chances of catching coronavirus w.h.o warns on the voice newspaper results of the inquiry into the ngabo incident are then made public commission of inquiry renders reports on cameroon insider only to receive the prescriptions of the head of state on cameron tribune at a time government's finding
• 06:00 - 06:30 implicates top military officials on the guardian post beer orders punishment for authors of gabu massacre on the chronicle times before demonstrating impartiality on the gabu incident on municipal updates the paper goes further to give reasons why ngabu deserves a military base but we coulda president tells government we do not want military base in gabo then questions will exhuming copses resurrect the dead according to the post-weekender just
• 06:30 - 07:00 when br regime under pressure to investigate other alleged military excesses on the guardian post same as un demands full accountability on gabu massacre on the post weekender then mincom adopts stringent measures relating to government subvention to private press on the star newspaper as new pamenda city mayor gets first baptism of fire with bikers confronting police over extortion on the voice newspaper and two are
• 07:00 - 07:30 buried alive as fence collapses in limbe after heavy downpour on the star newspaper before customs seizes 210 cartons of fake chloroquine in gundery until i come your way again this is your hour with the press [Music] thank you emmanuel avenue and i'd like to begin with the epidemiologist dr assa how would you assess the
• 07:30 - 08:00 evolution of the pandemic in cameroon today yes joe i think the pandemic the epidemic in cameroon is evolving quite surprisingly favorably for the country because um a month ago the current the statistics that we had in the country at that time had about 200 and something people infected and when you looked at that data at that
• 08:00 - 08:30 time and you plugged it into models that followed the evolution of the epidemic in other western countries a month later that's today we should have had about 25 000 cases in cameroon but we are still at 1400 which means that the measures that have been put in place should be working and working surprisingly very well now why is it that these methods these measures put in place are working there are still a lot of unanswered questions
• 08:30 - 09:00 it could be because the measures are effectively being implemented so short distancing is going on very well personal hygiene is well respected but there could also be some kind of factuals that play into this favorable evolution in the country at this time in the sense that maybe because the population is much younger than in the western countries people tend to survive better even when they have a symptomatic infection and the data actually testifies to that because
• 09:00 - 09:30 the current that the current mortality rate of hospitalized symptomatic cases in cameroon is just about seven percent which is far way less than the global mortality rate which is about 20 percent okay so would you say that the situation is under control quotes and unquote yes i think that the situation is under control not meaning that we would we would um be able to remove the virus from the population because we the numbers that we are
• 09:30 - 10:00 talking about we are talking about people who are symptomatic and they have tested positive or contacts who have been traced and tested but we don't really know the level of penetration of the virus in the community because we don't have enough tests to do routine community screening which would give you an indication of the number of people who are coming into contact with this virus getting infected but have a purely asymptomatic disease that manifests no signs and symptoms and
• 10:00 - 10:30 move around healthy that that sounds quite that sounds quite interesting in the sense that um in spite of uh the initial fears we uh apparently it's not only in cameroon but across the african continent the situation is not that bad and in fact like you said the projections from western gov government make uh uh made the entire continent shiva and tell me i want i'd like to come to you and when you look at because we have as
• 10:30 - 11:00 many as over 10 african countries that have this disease or this infection but know that you can you have chad mozambique guinea-bissau madagascar rwanda uganda and a host of other countries that have had this kovac 19 or half biscovic 19 in their communities but no deaths recorded yet is it because africans are used to more difficult situations like the malaria infection we know the world celebrated well malaria the other day and with very high level of mortality on the continent well
• 11:00 - 11:30 joe like the epidemiologist who is an expert in the domain said our health system is not as operational as that in the western countries so so you mean assessment modalities yes so yeah so some of these figures may not be very indicative of the reality on the ground he just said that we are not doing systematic testing and there are some and we can't as certain as to the penetration of the infection
• 11:30 - 12:00 so i think we need to uh when we're making such declarations they should be a little mitigated because it's difficult to say that people who can get infected get ill and die without even being known to the system that is a possibility and i suspect there are many of such given our reality on the ground okay
• 12:00 - 12:30 that's it we are in a situation where uh we like swimming in the dark we are in despair and when you are in despair you you tend to trees or follow any track that can give you hope now nobody knows even the scientific community where the treatment might come from we
• 12:30 - 13:00 tend to neglect our local realities okay we have our african we will come to that we will come together but you you are talking about um where the treatment will come with will come but we have um cases of infections and symptomatic treatment which have led to the infected persons being declared non or corona free is that not an
• 13:00 - 13:30 indication that we have a reversal procedure in the treatment of these cases you treat the symptoms and the person gets wired yeah but it depends as epidemiologists said on the age the demographics and that yes that should be another plus to us okay i'll come back to you but let me turn to dr tandy he just painted i would say a bright picture of
• 13:30 - 14:00 the situation bright quoted unquote because the projections from western countries gave africa a very bleak picture but the way the situation is evolving the the disease hasn't hit africa as much as it has hit europe and america but would you attribute this to the preventive measures which government has put in place are the curative measures that government is targeting those who have
• 14:00 - 14:30 been infected yeah thank you joe all is put on the table as far as this is concerned all measures that the government and poor have put in place are actually working as well as the the the behavior of the population as well but it is too early uh like i said to conclude in africa in general because especially in cameroon we are about uh executing the decentralization
• 14:30 - 15:00 management of of the the pandemic and in the days ahead we might expect to see an increasing numbers because there is going to be mass screening especially because the decentralization is not affected you've seen cases that have been reported now from the northwest region because before yeah and we have precisely the cases in the northwest region they got infected and decided to travel home say they want to die home
• 15:00 - 15:30 and and they might be given befitting barriers but that's not the case so we are expecting that more robust method would be used especially as far as the regions are concerned but the population needs to be continue to be vigilant and respect all government measures that have been put in place so that we could be able to disconnect this change i'm very happy because the population almost all the regions are now being touched except for the extreme
• 15:30 - 16:00 north region that has not recorded any case so the more the population is more aware i think the better for us and especially in the call center the number that was given will continue to receive more calls i mean the population they're reporting themselves so they want to verify get information about the disease they are reporting some are actually reporting themselves because it's one of the measures for contact tracing and some of these
• 16:00 - 16:30 individuals have actually been proven positive although some cases have been negative again also we encourage the population people owning up yes and feeling bad yes and maybe due to the explanation uh of the indications that the ministry or the government has indicated those criterias they they also respect the conditions so they call and it's proven that is positive but then they have been taken care of a lot of people have been taken care of and they are out
• 16:30 - 17:00 of the hospital after reporting themselves so there is no need for the population to worry about the kovic 19 because the earlier you report yourself the earlier you are being dictated the earlier your condition can be managed rather than staying at home and then getting complications and then complicating the whole system or the whole show for yourself in particular exactly and and uh professor oben um when you listen to them talk and
• 17:00 - 17:30 you how do you and you look at what government has put in place they call them the 20 commandments the other day professor chumbo was saying people call them commandments now the 20 commandments would you have recommended that something be taken out or something be added to those measures elaborated or strategies elaborated to try to prevent or treat the disease right thank you i think well in my opinion the measures that government has put in
• 17:30 - 18:00 place appropriate and doing everything possible to limit or stop this transmission of the virus those measures are saying you know working in a way because it has actually changed the way people look at things in cameroon and i don't think it will ever be the same again what we have now and one thing i don't
• 18:00 - 18:30 think i want to advocate for is complacency because once people hear that oh it's getting better then become complacent that is one thing that we have to avoid we do not know like anywhere in the world the full facts are not there yet it is a topic ongoing research and a lot still needs to be done first of all to understand the virus itself that is the key thing we do not know
• 18:30 - 19:00 enough about the virus nobody in the world can claim to have monopoly of knowledge i'm talking of nowhere in the world of understanding how this virus works and how it's going to go on okay i've asked this question before and i think i should ask you do you believe with the theory that it it escaped from a laboratory somewhere well joe i don't think you know this is the time to worry about where it came from okay as of now we should look for
• 19:00 - 19:30 solutions to a problem if it came from a laboratory if it's natural from mutation there are all sorts of theories out there but i think the key thing for us now is finding solutions to the problem it's important to know where it came from because it will have solutions exactly but for our society cameroon now at this point i don't think it's a priority okay i was just looking for solutions yes uh dr assad um
• 19:30 - 20:00 where are we now with the in terms of the transmission we have brought people have come from outside we have stopped the entry of flights and blocked our borders which means that the the rate at which we're moving now it's community contamination right yes joe there is actually already um community transmission okay of this virus in cameroon transmission meaning it is transmitted from person to person within the same community it is not only important cases like um
• 20:00 - 20:30 like eric said in some areas in cameroon they still have importation of cases like the cases reported in the northwest region boundary but as this as the epidemic would go on if these people have not respected social distancing have not isolated themselves correctly if they have come into contact with other people you may get a community transmission where these people would transmit the virus to other people
• 20:30 - 21:00 within that community and then that's how that's how the spread would continue but in terms of the epidemic curve once the virus gets into a community especially this particular corona virus the way it behaves is strange and it can move very fast between people even people who are asymptomatic meaning it would it would transmit so
• 21:00 - 21:30 the way where the emphasis is put is trying to contain this transmission to re to to slow down this transmission okay preventive mechanisms yep so you would have heard of i mean you once the virus gets into a community it's at this moment it's difficult to say you can take out the virus it would stay in the community but you want to slow the progression i mean i'm sure you've heard about flattening the epidemic of yes you push the curve down so that you can the the symptomatic cases which would
• 21:30 - 22:00 occur by a slower transmission would be sufficient to be handled by the healthcare system because if you don't put those measures and make sure that they are effective then the epidemic curve stays very high up and so you get an influx of people into the healthcare system and it can crash the system okay that's that's very important and there's so much complain uh in the community about accompanying measures and people are saying we've been asked
• 22:00 - 22:30 to stay at home schools are not on and a lot of complaints about uh especially from the private sector about salaries and bills tell me yes um government was studying uh the accompanying measures yes and and i must confess here that we the government needs to be one step ahead you you this is a phenomenon that you handle it from a holistic approach you give a holistic approach you don't
• 22:30 - 23:00 just look at the medical aspect of it it will not solve the problem because its ramifications go beyond the medical beyond the health and so elsewhere governing is anticipating is pre-empting you don't study a situation when it is at hand you anticipate you you you try to put in measures that would
• 23:00 - 23:30 occur you don't wait for the situation to degenerate so what i'm saying here is that elsewhere the responsibility of all the government is in as much as it is to bring the virus under control it is also to take care of the population of the other issues that have been engendered by the pandemic economically socially culturally otherwise okay
• 23:30 - 24:00 so um what i'm saying here is there is you've met your point there is what we call there is what we call the bcp or the bccp the business continuity and contingency plan you don't put in place a business contingency and continuity plan when you buy a crisis you anticipate on that you put in it can no longer be business as usual i i i i see what you're saying yeah what this means
• 24:00 - 24:30 if you can give me just a few seconds to explain furthermore what this means is that whether you are in the education sector it can no longer be business as usual whether you are in the economic sector it cannot be business as usual whether you're in the social sector cannot be business as you know you adapt to a changing time you must have the ability to manage a crisis a crisis means that you have you multitask you go along with multi-stages
• 24:30 - 25:00 at the same time you don't conceive give your time to evaluate the conception then you start executing you give yourself to evaluate the execution okay which means you have to go as fast as possible and maybe you buy what uh ugandan president said in his own move that um and i'm afraid i'm afraid we're not doing that okay all right um but uh let's hope that water is available electricity
• 25:00 - 25:30 is available and that the people will be able to use that i'd like us to have a break and go over to dwara where the archbishop of the dweller archdiocese has been able to use his own knowledge 30 years of research personal research i know all of us here africans and we've at one point or the other taken our roots and our leaves to help ourselves so he came up with something which is helping people and crtv went and met him and our reporter from crtv dweller
• 25:30 - 26:00 alphonse abongo archu met the archbishop and brought back the support for crtv ash bishop somewhere clear has to his credit 30 years of medicinal plant research over these years the man of god admits having discovered concoctions that treat ailments affecting the human respiratory system the new coronavirus has given the
• 26:00 - 26:30 prelate another challenge which are girls a glimpse of hope given that i already knew the plants according to the symptoms of corona i have simply put together these combinations prepared them and given to persons with the symptoms and they were relieved my pleasure is that those who take the product are well so i'm satisfied the ash bishop attests that health workers in the dweller ash diocese
• 26:30 - 27:00 who contracted coveted 19 have been relieved by the medicine he discovered and offers free of charge some nurses who had respiratory problems because they came in contact with covid19 patients took the product afterwards they were fine all we want is that the person should not die for now the diocesan health department is charged with the follow-up of these patients
• 27:00 - 27:30 i work within the framework of health given that we have our health services the person who follows up the patients is our digestion health services coordinator he is a medical doctor we are not illegal given that we work as a health structure this also is the ash bishops token to the collective national effort to put an end to the pandemic [Music]
• 27:30 - 28:00 that sounds interesting isn't it professor oben yes joe that sounds very very interesting and it looks very african it is african and i think that is something that should be encouraged what the archbishop has actually come up with find like all the different things that are being tried now all over the world including what is coming from we call it the medical world
• 28:00 - 28:30 they're trying things to solve a problem the archbishop of dwala has actually put something in place to try to find answers or solutions to a problem this is what is generally called alternative medicine which should not at any point be thrown out of the window as being bad because it's african it is something that needs a bit more research to be put into it clinical trials have to be done for any
• 28:30 - 29:00 such construction put out to be able to conclude conclusively say this works this doesn't work the archbishop has put out something that he believes has helped people with the condition i think it is now for the scientific world to take the next step what is in there that makes this work if it works and i think that is the approach that you should take now he's not alone there are so many of uh
• 29:00 - 29:30 such situations back in the neighborhood in our neighborhoods and which many people are asking why has africa not been able to exploit the rich flora which it has to be able to come up with something that can help not only the africans because remember medicines started on the african continent the old old egypt pharmaceutical uh industry is still very weak
• 29:30 - 30:00 yes true i mean our pharmaceutical industry is very weak um i mean just to to add to what the archbishop actually did we have actually put something together ourselves in the university of ur101 okay i'll come to that which i know you will come to at some point but we have to know the basis of medicine in those different concoctions are there active ingredients because these are the same active ingredients that are purified in some cases that are
• 30:00 - 30:30 sold as medicines so why not okay i'll come to you shortly you want i would like you to react to what the what the report from dwana dr thaddee yeah i think the asg bishop is trying his best in order to project what he has discovered but within the ministry of public health i think we give also the according to the organogram there is a section for trading medicine and which is still ongoing you know we try to integrate the the functionality of this service
• 30:30 - 31:00 however with african plants and other things it works with the ministry of research scientific research and the issue here is how progressive this research can be especially on the scientific scene you know before we generalize something although i am much more whole on ethnicity and certain specific specificity based on on regions because the human system is a little bit
• 31:00 - 31:30 different but following international norms we have to take each research very serious uh before we draw a conclusion to generalize it it needs to follow a protocol okay what you say is extremely interesting in the sense that when it comes from the west we embrace it but when it's coming from africa we begin to put reserves why then well the it's simply the complex no no not the complex it is simply because of what people think that
• 31:30 - 32:00 nothing good can come out of this dark continent that may be a little character i mean simplistic there but the truth about it is that there is what what does it cost to find out if it works that's it that's the question just simply get he is from he's speaking from empirical evidence he is not a scientist he simply says what as bishop said i'd give we had
• 32:00 - 32:30 given my concoction to and he had a case to assist and he hails from a region which where we have a lot of uh respiratory diseases yes and so as him growing up he certainly would have followed what his parents were doing we must be cautious he is not saying that he is treating the coronal virus disease he is saying that with the concoctions that he made he gave it to somebody
• 32:30 - 33:00 who had the symptoms and the person was relieved it's very clear it must be taken he is not saying that i've discovered medication for coronavirus if we we must because no that's true and that's what the scientific world is doing so they are not treating corona are they they are no doctor they are managing it they are managing it yes so you you why don't you just on the basis of empirical if you are even even i can say like i said when you are managing a crisis it cannot be business as usual whether you are in
• 33:00 - 33:30 in the medical field okay there are steps that you yes that you fast track okay um yes i just want to add a little bit to what has already been said on the panel that um in scientific research or in the world of research today internationally accepted there are certain steps that must be followed before you generalize findings particularly when it comes to drugs drugs creation drug testing
• 33:30 - 34:00 etc because in basic pharmacology the first principle of basic pharmacology is primo non-nuchaire first do not harm it is not useful to give methods to people and treat them of their disease and make them die of the medicine so you want to make sure that the method you know the method that you are giving to your patients or to the people you want to make sure that they have no unwanted effects because there's a classical story from
• 34:00 - 34:30 the middle of the last century about this drug thalidomide which was given to pregnant women to control to relieve them of nausea of pregnancy but some years down the line even though this message helped the women significantly stopping the nausea of pregnancy it led to malformation in the children were born from women who took these drugs so so um putting a drug out there is not
• 34:30 - 35:00 something as simple as people think i'm not saying that the findings from the ashby shop are unfounded yes he could have helped symptomatically the people who received his medicines but then we need we need archbishop and other scientists need to look into this yes there's one thing in what you have said and that's the skepticism that comes with research and the the development of of drugs but one thing what one would keep asking is whether that skepticism is not
• 35:00 - 35:30 be because that research and that finding is coming from the african continent because we have chinese traditional medicines which we are embracing i remember what they called jensen is what my father used to treat stomach disorder with but when he comes from the other side we embrace it as if it's some new finding no i don't i don't think it's a problem of coming from africa i think it's about having following a correct methodology chinese traditional meeting is heavily researched
• 35:30 - 36:00 and widely published so you you really cannot equate i mean there are certain people in china as well who would develop something and if he has not gone through the same rigorous process of making sure that it will not harm people even if it has benefits and then it should not be accepted but then if it has benefits and it doesn't harm or you can accept the level of harm that comes with the benefits and then it should be it should be generalized in that case but then there are steps to doing that okay do we i in as much as i
• 36:00 - 36:30 to understand what the epidemiologist is saying i beg to differ in the sense that he is taking what would normally obtain in a normal situation we are operating we are in what we can describe as a crisis situation and that is what i see in the crisis situation it cannot be business as usual all right you cannot say you must do
• 36:30 - 37:00 this you have made the point now there are some of these steps chapter that you can first track okay yes yes yes yes we have understood we've understood your point of saying that we've understood your point yes uh emotion just go ahead yes it's okay uh till we now uh dr urban or professor open rather um that's no it's okay you your microphone is not on but you'd use the other one it's still still good um now um
• 37:00 - 37:30 that's this problem which has cropped up because of uh the current situation the eating of foods and and having the teasers and so on and so forth so what do we need to know uh what does the public need to know about what to eat and what to discard at this particular moment right thanks i think before i actually uh answer that i want to touch on a word that you mentioned complex okay do we
• 37:30 - 38:00 have a complex yes yes we do have a complex all right that is the truth we have a complex not only in terms of looking at our own research but even in terms of what we eat in terms of what we eat we embrace foods from all over the world we think that it is this thing to eat foods from asia for example you need to go to some asian restaurants in yaounde at some time and there isn't any way to
• 38:00 - 38:30 impact to go into it these are foods that we are not used to eating and my view of science my view of life is that every environment is complete i.e you have things in that environment that need that you need to eat to stay healthy you have things in that environment that you need you can use when you are sick that is what it's about the completeness of nature the completeness of the world
• 38:30 - 39:00 we eat foods that come from asia that have spent ages in refrigerators and freezers in europe and in the america from the americas i'm talking of here a country which is blessed with so much food of all sorts of varieties a country where just the foods that we have here in cameroon if we follow what we call balanced eating there wouldn't be any need to
• 39:00 - 39:30 worry in times of crisis like now because the key thing and the guide for what we should be eating at this time is that eat as many colors as is possible now when you talk about eating colors what does that mean color pencils color food what what when you go to the market okay and i'll use the uh the marker that i i i go through sometimes mashima fundi okay the amount of fruits and vegetables
• 39:30 - 40:00 sold in that market is enough for anybody in yaounde to have a balanced diet just go there and say well what i'm going to do today is i'll buy a fruit or a vegetable of a different color don't buy any two things of the same color there's green there's yellow there's orange just buy the different colors don't worry about you know if it's healthy or not buy the different colors go home make sure you eat those colors and you'll have all the nutrients that you
• 40:00 - 40:30 need to stay healthy okay easy guys that sounds interesting so what should we eat now and what should we not eat now well at every time and i think i hope that this epidemic is going to change our way of thinking and our approach towards food the point is not to eat to be well but when you're sick the the whole idea is to eat to stay well
• 40:30 - 41:00 what you call wellness yes that's where i'm coming to and you're already there yes and when a lot of people talk about uh foods that boost the immune system and those that help you to stay healthy what should we get at now and what should we do if at any time we had focused on eating a balanced meal which is what was lacking because you tell the person on the street it's a
• 41:00 - 41:30 balanced meal that doesn't mean anything to them exactly that is why we've come up with this and it's not just us all over the world said eat as many colors as possible and you will have a balanced meal what that means is that you have the the macronutrients which is what you require for the energy as well as micronutrients which you require for the functioning of the body obviously there are some nutrients that have been found with a lot of
• 41:30 - 42:00 scientific backing that help the functioning of the immune system and you know just off the top of my head the vitamins vitamins a b when you talk about b vitamins there's a whole range of them there's b1 b2 b6 b12 all of that b6 for example is known for its properties in helping the immune system zinc very good for the immune system
• 42:00 - 42:30 selenium very good for the immune system and all of those things are found in the common foods that happen every day to be more concrete what then should people do at this material moment you were talking about the become so where do they find those vitamins so as to stay healthy or boast their immune system so they can face the coronavirus eat your fruits and vegetables on top over and on top of what you're used to eating
• 42:30 - 43:00 and please eating well does not mean need to have the money no fruits and vegetables in season that is what we need to eat to our normal normal everyday diets now the only advice for those who are not used to having fruits and vegetables more than ever we need it now to help our immune systems and those are for example
• 43:00 - 43:30 the spinach which is high in vitamin c key for the immune system you have spinach like all the other you know green vegetables citrus fruits high in vitamin c you have melon seeds they're busy very high in zinc there are things like garlic as well because as well as those things to boost the immune system you have foods with scientific backing that
• 43:30 - 44:00 are anti-viral and antibacterial and these foods are foods that we like the garlic everybody thinks about garlic and ginger you go the the prices in the markets have gone over over the roof because this actually have properties which are known to be antiviral so those are the things that you know our cameron spices the camera cuisine is just wonderful there's so many spices there with
• 44:00 - 44:30 scientific backing peer-reviewed papers that have actually come out to show that this particular plants these particular spices in our diets have this effects that could be useful to the body at this time be concrete be concrete yes i'll use the example of what we are doing presently which is the actual soup okay yellow soup
• 44:30 - 45:00 that has a lot of ingredients spices inside there that are known to have antiviral effects antibacterial effects antioxidant effects just your actual soup what we've done is fortified it by adding things that normally would not go in there like what like the melon seed egusi which normally will not be in the
• 45:00 - 45:30 acoustic but because of its high content in zinc and it's something that almost every cameroonian eats you said put it in there for that property that functional property of providing the zinc which is not only good for your immune system but has scientific backing showing that zinc actually inhibits rna replication which is viral
• 45:30 - 46:00 replication okay now what if you eat the achoo and the achoo soup and you have your lump of a goosey besides would that be helpful or you need to put it into the soup well you see we are looking at a situation where there is in cameron cultural differences are things that some people don't eat okay and things that people eat that in terms of an illness see that food as a medicine and
• 46:00 - 46:30 everybody will eat it now for those who uh don't er eat their chew soup what's the alternative they can have to be able to have a complete uh immune or a fighting system like what you've just put right i mean this is i mean it's interesting because um i was having this discussion with the paramount chief of memphis yesterday uh chief dr uben and he said julius haven't you found anything
• 46:30 - 47:00 in in our meals here that have all the spices and i told him that of course because the spices in what's in the you know banfield they call it soup some of those spices are actually used and have you know scientific backing now okay you just talked about the spices that go into the actual soup um many of the spices are used also can you give us the names so that people can know that this is what we need to be eating at this time
• 47:00 - 47:30 especially targeting uh viral attack you know trying to inhibit the replications of viruses right i think i mean what's uh to be to be fair to the uh you know to the non-scientific committee um i would say you know i think tomorrow's tomorrow's papers will carry some of those things because there are traditional names and scientific names if i say for example the chrostatis glomerata it wouldn't mean anything to the person on the street exactly but those are spices that are used every day
• 47:30 - 48:00 so all what goes in there have actually been you know written up with the commonly used name as well as the names in different dialects okay and that is going to be out in the public i mean if uh you know there is time we'll give the foundation website okay okay in other words we can have um uh if you just put it as you put it simply what the ingredients that go into the
• 48:00 - 48:30 actual soup are very good to be eaten at this particular time now uh there was so much talk about teasings what should we take and what should we not take at this moment right seasons uh are good mainly for the flavonoid content can you explain that right there are actually components in most of these teas that
• 48:30 - 49:00 have properties that can stop or reduce oxidative stress oxidative stress basically is what the body will be uh will experience just the fact that we are living the normal metabolisms will generate different compounds which could put stress on the body if not taken care of okay these seasons there are different combinations there i mean i'll come back to what i said
• 49:00 - 49:30 yes what is the scientific basis of this seasons the scientific basis that we have as of now is the content of antioxidants so the advice well okay it gives you hairs all sorts of things you should drink hot fluids yes okay and the person on the street can interpret that to be that the hot water the hot fluids will kill the virus the temperature which will actually kill the virus is not the temperature that
• 49:30 - 50:00 the human you know uh gastrointestinal tract can cope with okay okay so we should stop looking at what happens inside the test tube and comparing it to our system yes very very okay uh there are times when people uh combine uh so many teas uh fever grass lemon uh pineapple peelings and so on and so forth and then honey does the body can the body uh
• 50:00 - 50:30 make the difference between all the ingredients that have gone in and separate them in the body and give every part of those ingredients all the vitamins uh what they're supposed to to do in the body that can the body make that difference even when they are combined yeah the human body is very very complex but it is a very very flexibilized system where the different organs of the body will take and use only what they need
• 50:30 - 51:00 what they can you they can metabolize so no matter what combinations come in the body is able to distinguish but we have to be careful because sometimes those different combinations lead to a situation where one component or one ingredient in there actually counteracts another one okay and you know as i said this this whole um covid situation is providing a lot of help and life is
• 51:00 - 51:30 not going to be the same after this the camera academy of science has actually set up a food and nutrition task force against covid to actually come up with concrete solutions of that okay will help we will come back we'll come back to that maybe a quick reaction before we get uh tk uh yes what our foods and our t-zones yeah if there's something i should appreciate about clovik 19
• 51:30 - 52:00 is the gradual change of behavior of the population especially when it comes to milk a lot of cameroonians now attending to our traditional meals and culture and taking even teasants it means we've started living away from western food and concentrating on our natural resources and food but just to add to what prof said i think it's important to note here that some patients or some people have
• 52:00 - 52:30 specificity because there are people who are allergic to certain food stuff or due to health reasons they have to stay away from certain food stuff so this category of person need to be very careful not just to listen because we've recommended i choose or some elements and they now alternate what has been recommended for their health and they go in to consume some of these things that can create more more problems so what is encouraged here is to live healthily and eat what is useful
• 52:30 - 53:00 that is specific to your condition individual yes do we so i just want to take what one of the persons who has been killed he has been on the media he has been in the media and he said kanye said on the news he said that he had the infection and immediately he that is an example that immediately he he got into contact with the medical computer and medical
• 53:00 - 53:30 services and at the same time he was taking his african herbs and whatever so it boils down to this thing a combination of divination of it let us let do at moments like this we should we should give we should try what what it doesn't cost anything we should try all right we should not neglect we should not have any complex okay elvis i'll come to you dr assassin shortly reactions online we are bringing live on
• 53:30 - 54:00 facebook quite a good number of them and some are still coming in you want to be able to read all will reach divani says hand washing is good but let's look at madagascar dan jung nuzar queen says the campaign carried out in different communities is really working but his worry is now how the figures keep rising instead of reducing what usman says with over 697 recovered cases the situation is under control joachim
• 54:00 - 54:30 augustine says social distance and ceremony is a challenge with people still very close to each other in the market i think it's high time for the government to look at other examples in other countries jesse kunan says his suggestion is that he should bring on board genuine traditional healers to accompany to accompany the medical expert while akong former living news says let government call for a total lockdown and assist the
• 54:30 - 55:00 population with basic needs joe waters says the use of mask is working because they increase the increment of the ratio of a patient is no longer geometric while gu pointer goers is asking what it takes in terms of cost to treat a patient's carrying kovid fab's eco says there is a global fight and all hands you put on deck to your educate the ines
• 55:00 - 55:30 more um maybe that should be the last one one michelle is also asking what it takes to treat the patient and young stanley says all only essential businesses and offices should be opened during this period of the fight against the pandemic thank you very much elvis you'll be back next week with uh another in the series of our reactions to uh our program uh and uh we are moving gradually towards the end of the program and you just
• 55:30 - 56:00 followed uh professor urban there about the feeding habits and so and what our foods are giving us and the one of the things which many people are asking is those of people who are staying at home and who are not sick uh you know staying at home can cause people to fall sick because of their feeding habits so what should people do and what should people not do now that they uh they are restricted from going out that is you must go out
• 56:00 - 56:30 only when it's necessary uh yeah joe um what prof said is really good i just want to come back on one or two aspects that's clear because i i noticed you kept you kept probing prof to name some foods and now the camera is a very diverse country okay not everybody knows what is your soup for example but the first point which is made about eating what is around you and varying what you have around you is very important because um all over the country people
• 56:30 - 57:00 have diverse meals but and these meals taken from the natural environment if you eat a balanced meal you have all the necessary micro and micronutrients which you need and the the problem at times we're calling a name is that you get people rushing to overload okay on a particular thing but um like prophet said the human body is very complex but well organized if you need if your body needs five milligrams of
• 57:00 - 57:30 potassium no matter how much quantity you eat it's going to take just five milligrams and use okay with the added risk that some of these things can actually even overload and cause problems okay so the so the real the take-home message should be that we should eat normally what they eat and make it more balanced in terms of eating fresh foods fresh fruits vegetables spices in normal quantities without necessarily
• 57:30 - 58:00 thinking that if you eat a hand load of a particular thing then it becomes a medicine okay that sounds interesting maybe you conclude okay so yeah so um moving moving from there i just want to say people stay home now face multiple challenges one in terms of access to food two in terms of fiscal inactivity because if you are quarantined at home or lock down at home you don't exercise because exercise is also very useful for oxidative stress reduction
• 58:00 - 58:30 okay so people think at home should look around them if you don't need if you don't have to go out to pakuvita to exercise you can do stretches in your living room okay and um fortunately fortunately unfortunately our electricity supply is not very stable so it means that people cannot actually stock up on food in the freezers because it could all get bad in in the field in a few days if you don't have power supply but we have readily available markets all
• 58:30 - 59:00 over the community where you can go and source for fresh food and if you're going wear a face mask if you're going with a face mask and make sure you respect hygiene wash your hands and maintain a reasonable social distance which currently is prescribed to about 1.5 to 2 meters gap from other people around okay do we well i just want to say that this is a crisis and the crisis should be managed as such a crisis cannot be managed the way some of our people in the front line are managing it talk to them
• 59:00 - 59:30 it is business as usual and i disagree with that okay cannot be dr tony yeah i only encourage the population to continue to follow strict uh preventive measures and take care of individual protection and then avoid any misinformation especially fake news that circulates on most social media and stay at home as much as you can and do the exercise at home and stay healthy okay professor oben
• 59:30 - 60:00 maybe advise on what people should do at home now in terms of their eating habits yes what people should do at home first of all because it's not to stay healthy it's not just eating exercise is a major part of staying healthy and i mean it would be good if for example you know crtv you have programs i i know they used to be there where you actually have a a exercise indoor yeah so people can actually follow those things
• 60:00 - 60:30 it is very important because we don't want to come out of this crisis and go to an obesity crisis due to lack of exercise when you're at home please as much as possible eat fresh foods if you have you know uh foods that you actually buy preserved from cans you take the cans you read the label if there's any word on that label that you cannot read or you cannot pronounce no that is an additive stay away from it okay all right thank you so much um gentlemen for
• 60:30 - 61:00 coming we hope that um you got the message and that the most important thing is for us to stay healthy and to be able to leave or out leave kovic 2020 and we will leave to tell the story for those of you who would be able to those of us who would survive this pandemic it's ravaging the world and like i said earlier on about 2.8 or 2.9 million people have been infected with over
• 61:00 - 61:30 200 and 2 000 people dead until when we come your way again next week stay with crtv if you can time time weekend will be falling on crtv and the news comes immediately on crtv news good day [Music]
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